Chapter 18 · New Host

"Get your hands off me!" I slammed back against the stone. Cold shot straight through my shirt into my spine.

Carson didn't even blink. He crowded right into me. Chest to chest. Hands locked on my shoulders, pinning me there.

"Look down," he growled. "At your chest. Look, Evelyn. Now."

I looked. My shirt was torn open. And the scar over my heart — the one I'd hid for years — was lit up like a warning light.

It was pulsing. Black smoke churning under the skin. Thick. Oily. Pushing against my ribs like something trapped trying to chew its way out.

"What the hell is that?" My breath hitched. I shoved at his chest. He didn't move an inch. "What did you do to me?"

"I didn't do shit," he said. His face was inches from mine. I could smell leather and ozone and copper on him. "That's the ember."

"The what?"

"You cut the bond to your sister. Congrats. You didn't kill it. You just gave it a new house." His eyes dropped to the scar. They were swirling with that jagged black light. "You're the host now."

"I'm not a host for anything," I spat.